Content Distribution System

1. A computing device, comprising: a logic device; and a data-holding device operatively connected to the logic device and holding instructions executable by the logic device to: send a message asking if portions of a desired content item each having a particular unique content identifier have been acquired and are available for transfer to the computing device from one or more peer devices participating in a network mesh with the computing device, the particular unique content identifier being the same regardless of a content source service from which the portion of the desired content item originates such that two portions having the same content data that are encoded differently by two different content source services have the same unique content identifier, and the particular unique content identifier differentiating the portion of the desired content item from any other portion of any other content item having different content data; if portions of the desired content item having the particular unique content identifier are available for transfer from one or more peer devices, download those available portions of the desired content item from one or more of the peer devices from which those portions of the desired content item are available for transfer even if those available portions are encoded differently; if portions of the desired content item having the particular unique content identifier have not been acquired by any of the one or more peer devices in the network mesh, download those portions of the desired content item from the one or more content source services even if those available portions are encoded differently; and reassemble the desired content item from downloaded portions encoded differently using the unique content identifiers of those portions.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , where the instructions are a component of an operating system of the computing device.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , where the portions of the desired content item that have not been acquired by any of the one or more peer devices are downloaded from two or more different content source services.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , where sending the message includes querying a mesh map to determine if the desired content item is available for transfer.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , where sending the message includes querying individual peer devices participating in the network mesh to determine if the desired content item is available for transfer.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , where the data-holding device further holds instructions executable by the logic device to request individual peer devices participating in the network mesh to update a mesh map responsive to an initial indication that portions of the desired content item are not available for transfer from one or more peer devices.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , where the particular unique content identifier is a randomly generated number.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , where the particular unique content identifier is 128 bits or larger.

9. The computing device of claim 1 , where the particular unique content identifier is expressed as a hexadecimal character string.

10. A method of downloading content by a computing device participating in a network mesh, the method comprising: if portions of a desired content item each having a particular unique content identifier that differentiates that portion from any other portion of any content item having different content data such that two portions having the same content data that are encoded differently by two different content source services have the same unique content identifier are available for transfer from one or more peer devices participating in the network mesh, downloading those available portions of the desired content item from one or more of the peer devices from which those portions of the desired content item are available even if those available portions are encoded differently; if portions of the desired content item each having the particular unique content identifiers are not available for transfer from any of the one or more peer devices participating in the network mesh, downloading those unavailable portions of the desired content item from one or more content source services even if those unavailable portions are encoded differently; and reassembling the desired content item from downloaded portions encoded differently using the unique content identifiers of those portions.

11. The method of claim 10 , where the particular unique content identifier differentiates the desired content item from content items having different content data than the desired content item and is the same regardless of a content source service from which the desired content item originates.

12. The method of claim 11 , where downloading unavailable portions of the desired content item from one or more content source services includes downloading different portions of the desired content item from two or more different content source services.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising querying a mesh map to determine if the desired content item is available for transfer.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising querying individual peer devices participating in the network mesh to determine if the desired content item is available for transfer.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising requesting individual peer devices participating in the network mesh to update a mesh map responsive to an initial indication that portions of the desired content item are not available for transfer from one or more peer devices.

16. The method of claim 11 , where the particular unique content identifier is a randomly generated number.

17. The method of claim 16 , where the particular unique content identifier is 128 bits or larger.

18. The method of claim 11 , where the particular unique content identifier is expressed as a hexadecimal character string.

19. A computing device, comprising: a logic device; and a data-holding device operatively connected to the logic device and holding instructions executable by the logic device to: if portions of a desired content item each having a particular unique content identifier that differentiates that portion from any other portion of any content item having different content data such that two portions having the same content data that are encoded differently by two different content source services have the same unique content identifier are available for transfer from one or more peer devices participating in a network mesh, download those available portions of the desired content item from one or more of the peer devices from which those portions of the desired content item are available even if those available portions are encoded differently; if portions of the desired content item each having the particular unique content identifiers are not available for transfer from any of the one or more peer devices participating in the network mesh, download those portions of the desired content item from one or more content source services even if those portions are encoded differently; and reassemble the desired content item from downloaded portions encoded differently using the unique content identifiers of those portions.

20. The computing device of claim 19 , where the portions of the desired content item that have not been acquired by any of the one or more peer devices are downloaded from two or more different content source services.